we like it wild. we like the heavenly lift of cedar trees and grass leaves and each purple flower. we’ve dipped our paddles in the waters of a scorpion moon and we can’t go back. we seen coyotes running thru the airport across from green island where blossom people live & no coyote hunters come. we run in a stagger with our shoulders bent and our ears high.

scared paranoid minds, explosions, poison clouds, cutting up the holy life, heart screams is too much sickness. no no no napalm dust & gas masks and domination of doomed nations cutting up the sacred sprouts and miracle vessels. no no no split atoms. we stay in tact now.

we like it wild. we like the heavenly lift of bird wings and green leaves & flower minds & tender tongues. we like the music of the wind. a gentle voice that means no harm.

Here is a poem by Meena Keshwar Kamal, the Afghan student activist who founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan and was assassinated for her social justice activities that opposed war and violence against women.I’ll never returnI’m the woman who has awokenI’ve arisen and become a tempest through the ashes of my burnt childrenI’ve arisen from the rivulets of my brother’s bloodMy nation’s wrath has empowered meMy ruined and burnt villages fill me with hatred against the enemy,I’m the woman who has awoken,I’ve found my path and will never return.I’ve opened closed doors of ignoranceI’ve said farewell to all golden braceletsOh compatriot, I’m not what I wasI’m the woman who has awokenI’ve found my path and will never return.I’ve seen barefoot, wandering and homeless childrenI’ve seen henna-handed brides with mourning clothesI’ve seen giant walls of the prisons swallow freedom in their ravenous stomachI’ve been reborn amidst epics of resistance and courageI’ve learned the song of freedom in the last breaths, in the waves of blood and in victoryOh compatriot, Oh brother, no longer regard me as weak and incapableWith all my strength I’m with you on the path of my land’s liberation.My voice has mingled with thousands of arisen womenMy fists are clenched with the fists of thousands compatriotsAlong with you I’ve stepped up to the path of my nation,To break all these sufferings all these fetters of slavery,Oh compatriot, Oh brother, I’m not what I wasI’m the woman who has awokenI’ve found my path and will never return.

The incredibly brave women of RAWA have created secret schools, orphanages, nursing courses, and handicraft centers for women and girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. RAWA has secretly filmed women being beaten in the street in Afghanistan by the police, and being executed.

RAWA continues its efforts by collecting funds to support hospitals, schools and orphanages in Pakistan and Afghanistan.